After the Miami New Times dropped its big doping story—a story that implicated Alex Rodriguez, Nelson Cruz, Melky Cabrera, and others—on Tuesday, A-Rod did what anyone would have expected him to do: He denied everything in the story through a spokesman. "Alex Rodriguez was not Mr. Bosch's patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him. The purported documents referenced in the story—at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez—are not legitimate."

The story, after all, did hinge on documents, and those pesky documents—they could have come from anywhere! It's not like the New Times had anything more conclusive, right? A-Rod's in the clear!

The texts, the source said, usually came late at night, telling Anthony Bosch to come to the house. Bosch would then head to the waterfront mansion on Biscayne Bay, through the gate on North Bay Road, to inject performance-enhancing drugs into Alex Rodriguez.
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For A-Rod, the service was always personal: "Only Tony handled A-Rod," one source told "Outside the Lines."

The visits were every few weeks. One night last spring, a source said, Bosch told associates he had been kicked out of Rodriguez' home after he had trouble locating a vein and infuriated the player. The sources did not say why Bosch would have been tapping a vein, as HGH and testosterone do not require intravenous injections. But whatever he was doing, "Tony said A-Rod was pissed at him," a source said. "He said he was bleeding everywhere."

I'm now imagining A-Rod, in his bloodstained silk sleepwear, chasing Bosch down the driveway of his caramel-colored Art Deco mansion, syringe in hand. This is a vivid image. But we're essentially at the point with PED news that made-up Lifetime-movie set-pieces are the only compelling bits to emerge from each new revelation. Hell, A-Rod's nameless spokespeople didn't even bother with specificity in their rebuttal this time. All they said: "The allegations are not true." Which is to say, the people who chose the business of defending A-Rod against PED charges are bored to death by the business of defending A-Rod against PED charges. And who can blame them? Only baseball columnists really give a damn about whether Rodriguez juiced late in his career.

If nothing else, today's ESPN report serves as more evidence that A-Rod is guilty of the minor transgression of using performance-enhancing drugs, and the major transgression of being the phoniest, whiniest bastard who ever lived.